Speaking at a Microsoft investor chat (and yes, this time it was even called a 'fireside chat') Microsoft's Chairman and Chief Software Architect - William Gates - made sure to take a swipe at Sony, and totally ignore Nintendo. He also came some way towards indicating a new, more mobile and more social direction for Xbox Live.
Let's start with the dig:
Ouch. Seriously. If you're sitting in a Sony factory making Bravias; or if you're Warwick Light, head of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand who pointed out recently that the PS3 is, "... not a games machine. Well (laughs), it is..." then you must be feeling a tad confused right now
On to more edifying speeches from the world's most generous man. Bill's seen Web 2.0, he's seen mobile devices (and Zune), and he's seen the future. Not only does he want to deliver Microsoft Office over the web rather than have you worry about storage, he also wants to extend this notion of 'software as a service' to gaming. Here's what he had to say, "Yes, the service concept, we'll see it at the consumer end with things like Xbox Live, where signing up for contests, and being a spectator, staying in touch with your friends, that's something you're going to want to be part of.
"So video gaming will have gone from being just a thing that you do in one location, with just the people there, to a far more social thing, that opens up new game genres. So it revolutionizes that business.".
Gates made the statement a while back now - and we're not entirely sure what he means when he refers to "new game genres", but we are intrigued. We are also intrigued by the idea that gaming will be a thing you do in more than one location. Is he referring to a Microsoft portable device? Possibly something Zune-based?
Let's start with the dig:
"So we've always wanted to be a company that got the benefit of the scale, going back to the beginning where we said, hey we're not a one-product company. Many of our competitors were one-product companies. Now they're not one-product companies, but Sony's just in video games, Nokia's largely just in mobile phones, IBM's largely in enterprise type software situations. And so is it a benefit to us that we work across these realms that we can expose you to the same user interface at home that you get at work? We think so. But there's a lot of execution behind taking that and getting the right things in the marketplace."
Ouch. Seriously. If you're sitting in a Sony factory making Bravias; or if you're Warwick Light, head of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand who pointed out recently that the PS3 is, "... not a games machine. Well (laughs), it is..." then you must be feeling a tad confused right now
On to more edifying speeches from the world's most generous man. Bill's seen Web 2.0, he's seen mobile devices (and Zune), and he's seen the future. Not only does he want to deliver Microsoft Office over the web rather than have you worry about storage, he also wants to extend this notion of 'software as a service' to gaming. Here's what he had to say, "Yes, the service concept, we'll see it at the consumer end with things like Xbox Live, where signing up for contests, and being a spectator, staying in touch with your friends, that's something you're going to want to be part of.
"So video gaming will have gone from being just a thing that you do in one location, with just the people there, to a far more social thing, that opens up new game genres. So it revolutionizes that business.".
Gates made the statement a while back now - and we're not entirely sure what he means when he refers to "new game genres", but we are intrigued. We are also intrigued by the idea that gaming will be a thing you do in more than one location. Is he referring to a Microsoft portable device? Possibly something Zune-based?
People:
Bill Gates
Read More Like This
Comments
vonBraunschweigg 1 Aug 2007 17:26
1/2
B******s. All your products are crashing on us Bill, all of them...a pitty.
OptimusP 2 Aug 2007 09:42
2/2
I like how the Xbox Live service is heaven on earth for consoles but the same concept is hell on earth for PC-gamers.
Also Bill again proves that MS is really always a generation behind on their thinking.
Also Bill again proves that MS is really always a generation behind on their thinking.